The average college graduate is saddled with thousands of dollars of debt. That’s because the average cost of a four-year college degree in this country has exploded over the last two decades. Is the crippling debt accrued by students a smart financial decision? And, compared to the rest of the world, why do Americans pay so much for higher education? To unpack this issue, we’ve enlisted Student Voice’s Zak Malamed, Allison Schrager from Quartz, and Dale J. Stephens, an elementary school dropout who founded his own business in his late teens.